Sanitary napkins used to collect vaginal discharges are well known in the art. Individually packaged sanitary napkins are also known.
Individually packaged sanitary napkins are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,035,578 issued to Elmore on May 22, 1962; U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,423, issued Sep. 14, 1971 to Fraser, U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,567, issued to Srinivasan, et al. on Aug. 10, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,146, issued Dec. 3, 1985, to Swanson et al. International Publication WO 89/02728 published Apr. 6, 1989 in the name of Froidh et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,675, issued to Taylor, et al. on Apr. 17, 1990; European Patent Application Publication No. 0357000 A1 published in the name of Umesh Gaur on Mar. 7, 1990; and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,993, issued to Gaur on Feb. 18, 1992.
Discarding used sanitary napkins enveloped in the packaging is taught in the art. For example, International Publication WO 89/02729 published Apr. 6, 1989 in the name of Pigneul and U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,047, issued Aug. 26, 1986 to Mattingly disclose two packaging arrangements that can be used for this purpose.
Packaging cleansing wipes with sanitary napkins, or absorbent articles of different types is also known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,678, issued to Paulis on Apr. 19, 1988 discloses packaging a cleansing sheet with a disposable diaper. The above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,675 issued to Taylor, et al. discloses, but does not illustrate one sanitary napkin packaging arrangement. As a result of the lack of an illustration, however, it is not clear what type of packaging arrangement is described in the Taylor, et al. patent.
The search for improved individual package configurations for sanitary napkins has, therefore, continued.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin. It is further an object of this invention to provide individually packaged sanitary napkin with packaging that protects the exposed adhesive on the napkin prior to the first use by the wearer. It is also an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin having a cleansing wipe packaged therewith. It is also an object of this invention to provide an individually packaged sanitary napkin having packaging which may be used for disposal of a used product. Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide improved closure mechanisms for maintaining the package in a closed configuration for disposal.